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Insurance companies in England are to start asking applicants about their sexual behaviour, rather than if they are gay, before demanding an HIV test. Life insurance companies are to stop asking questions about applicants' sexuality that have enabled them to discriminate against gay men. Insurance application forms currently include a question about the applicant's sexual orientation. In many cases, if a male applicant declares himself to be gay, the insurer will ask him to take an HIV test before proceeding with the application. But from the end of September, the emphasis will switch to behaviour rather than sexuality, with insurers asking: 'In the last five years have you been exposed to the risk of HIV infection?' The Association of British Insurers' statement of best practice on HIV and insurance, drawn up last October, recognises that being a gay man does not necessarily mean a person is at higher risk of HIV infection. By Jill Insley, The Observer.